Mom
by CSIJustMe
Summary: A new GS WIP. Grissom goes on a visit. Conversations ensue. FINISHED!
1. Default Chapter

Title: Mom

Disclaimer:  not mine

"Are you kidding me?  Gil Grissom is taking four whole leave days in the same year.  Wow."

"Funny Catherine."

"Where ya going, whatcha doin' or is it who ya doin'?

" I have personal thing to deal with."

"The master of the ambiguous answer"  Catherine laughed bitterly.

"Good evening, before we get to assignments I would like to inform you all that I will be going away for a few days next week and have decided that during the four nights that I am gone that each of you will have an opportunity to run the shift.  Here are the rota's."

"Wow man I'm runnin the first one. Sweet." Exclaimed an excited Nick Stokes

"Dang Sara, you runnin a Saturday night in Vegas, think you can handle it?"  Waarick added in his usual relaxed tone.

"Watch me!"  Sara replied

After shift the following Wednesday Gil Grissom got into his lab issue Denali and headed for McCarron  Airport.  The flight was uneventful and he found himself rereading his journals throughout the short flight.  However, the dull trip became completely worthwhile when upon entering the arrivals lounge he found himself encased in the loving embrace of his mother.

As they parted she quickly signed 'My goodness look at you, I did not think that you would suit a beard so well'

'Do you hate it?'

'Not at all, very becoming actually.  Never know, it may help in getting me a daughter-in-law some of these days.'

'Mother, I thought you would have given up on that by now' Grissom laughed as they exited the airport together en-route to his mothers car.

'Well I am pretty sure that you are not a "Confirmed Bachelor" in the widely accepted form, therefore I am entitled to still hold out for a daughter in law.'

Grissom had no answer for her.


	2. conversation

Thanks for the reviews you guys.

Over dinner on Grissom's first evening with his mother Grissom found himself struggling to stave off the questions.

'You know, you should have been a cop, with all of these questions.'  He joked

'What? A mother can't inquire about what is going on in her only son's life?'

'Well there is really not a lot going on in my life at the moment.'  He relented,

"Why the hell not? I raised a handsome, interesting wonderful boy, great husband material even if I do say so myself.'  Kate Grissom continued the jokey tone of their conversation.

After sharing a small embarrassed laugh with his mother Grissom attempted to answer.  But found that his mouth would not work

'You always seem to be very busy any time I call you.'

'Well mother that is true, I am a very busy man, I work 6 nights per week most weeks, I deal with an understaffed shift while trying to maintain our high status in lab rankings, I do research throughout the year as I need to be published twice a year or tour colleges in order to receive the research grants, that the lab relies on, so yeah I'm busy.'

'You work to much.'

'Yes I do, that is why I am here…to RELAX'

The hint of sarcasm in his facial expression as he signed made her laugh again.  

'Well it is about time you retired to concentrate on finding me a daughter-in-law.'

'You want one that bad huh?'  he asked turning more serious

'I want you to be happy.'

'I am happy'

'I don't want you to be lonely'

'I'm not lonely'

'Yes you are!'


	3. collegues

AN:  Thanks for the encouragement you guys, and for those who were wondering   YES it will be GS, give me a bit of time ok…

After leaving the gallery the next day Grissom and his mother took a seat on the edge of the fountain on their way through the park.  

'Tell me about the people you work with'

'I do tell you about them.'

'I don't need to hear  what cases they are working on, I want to know about them.'

'Ok'

'So…'

'Fine, well there is Catherine, She is… she is divorced…but her ex is dead.  She has a daughter called Lindsey…close to her sister.'

"What does she look like?  What age is she?  Her interests, sense of humor?

'She is pretty short 5'2" I guess, slim, wears good clothes, attractive, 40's.  She is pretty self assured, you know, no crap.  A good friend, but I guess at times can be a little too caught up in her own stuff to notice others sometimes.'

'Next there is Nick.  Nice kid, needs a confidence boost every now and then…well professionally anyway.  He is from Texas and has all the charm that goes with it…and the women.  Early 30's  played high school football.  He likes sports, video games and birds.'

'Birds?'

'Yeah I know!  Knows a lot about them, enthusiastic…probably too much discovery channel.'

'Next is Warrick, great guy.'

'He's been in you team since he was a rookie hasn't he?'

'Yeah, had it tough for a while a few years ago, off the rails a bit, but he sorted himself out.  I guess it's one of those things… growing up in Vegas…must be hard to avoid all the vices.'

'Does the same go for working there?'  Mrs Grissom asked with a smirk.

'Mother I grew up a long time before I moved there.  The vices…no…not for me!'

'More about Warrick'

'Ok…I guess, real music enthusiast, plays piano…jazz mostly.  Again into sports.  Generally a pretty laid back kind of guy.'

'Ok who is next?

'That would be Sara.'

'Tell me about Sara?'


	4. wet wallet

An: I know that you guys want longer chapters, I will try, but I want to try to stick to daily updates as well otherwise I will never get finished.

'Sara is from California, really smart, went to Harvard on a scholarship, post-grad at Berkley.  Very… dedicated.'

'Married?'

'No!...not married.'

'Seeing someone?'

'I…I don't know, she was, but I'm pretty sure that is over, maybe there is someone else.'

'You seem sad when you talk of her!'

'I'm not sad!  I…I guess she is a private person, I don't know much about her really.'

'I think that you know more than you are telling me.'

'As I said, Sara is pretty private.'

'Is she pretty?'

'Mother!'

"What?  I can't ask?'

'I'm going for a walk to the beach.'

'Gil…fine…I'm going to do some laundry, get yours before you go.'

'Ok bye.'

An hour later Kath Grissom was unloading the washer, when she felt something in the pocket of her sons freshly washed slacks.  Reaching in, she frowned when she realized that she had just washed Gil's wallet.

Taking great care Kath removed $40 in cash, two credit cards, several receipts, a plastic spider, four postage stamps and two photographs.  The first was of her and Gil on the beach, she smiled at the memory, it was his tenth birthday and they had spent the day at the beach with a few cousins, and ended the night with a bonfire and fireworks.  It was a great night.  

The other photograph was…was of a young woman.   A very beautiful young woman, long dark hair, deep brown eyes and an expression of surprise at whoever it was taking the photograph.  Kath could also just make out the LVMPD logo on the vest that she was wearing.  This was a very interesting development.  Was she a girlfriend?  Gil was obviously extremely fond of this young lady to carry a photograph, but he obviously was reluctant to talk about her…could this be Sara?  In order to avoid embarrassing her son Kath tucked both photographs into the wallet behind the credit card holder where she had found then and left the rest on the counter to dry out.

A short time later Gil returned with a bag of shells, which he added to the collection in the flowerbeds.  Kath emerged from the house and embraced her son from behind, he turned in her embrace and noticed the watery expression in her eyes,

'What's wrong?'

'I can't believe it is almost time for you to leave again, I'm going to miss my boy.'

'It won't be that long until I'm back!'

'Now that I've given up work, it feels like a lifetime.'

'You will never give up work.'

'I may still own the gallery but Graham does all the buying and arranges the staff.  What I do is spend less than an hour every week roaming around signing a few pieces of paper.'

'There is plenty that you can do to fill your time.'

'I have already taken classes in pottery, glass painting and tapestry, not easy when you can't hear the teacher!  Mostly I go down to Parkveiw and teach some of the kids sign'

' You like that though'

'Of course I do, I just…I will miss you!'

'I will miss you too!'

'Maybe I could go back to Vegas for a little while?'

'I thought you hated Vegas.'

'It is too tacky for my taste admittedly, but it is where my son is!'

'I will be at work a lot!'

'Then I will see you when you come home!';

'You really wanna come to Vegas?'

'Yep!'

'Ok I would love that!'  Gil said ginning as he pulled his mother into a tight embrace.

AN:  look it is a little bit longer.  Hope you like.   

Love reviews btw.


	5. flight in

An:  Hi everyone, thanks for all of the support.  This chapter sees the introduction of my new beta…Amy924…you can take a bow now.

During the flight from California to Vegas Grissom dozed lightly while his mother flicked through some brochures from the various Las Vegas galleries, unfortunately most seemed to be housed inside Casinos.  Tapping her son's arm and gesturing to the brochures she signed,

'Since when did Casinos become a mecca for culture and the arts,'

'It's not all about gambling and boxing now you know!'

'It's still tacky though.'  They shared a quiet laugh during which Grissom observed the curious look that they received from the various children seats near to them.

'So, tell me more about what you do when you are not at work.'

'I look after whatever research species that I have, at the minute I am starting a habitat for termite larvae.  That means that I have to be careful in their handling obviously.  I have to keep them in a rented garage as I can't risk bringing them into the house, but I can take a break from that for a bit while you are here.'

'What colleges are you touring this year?'

'…I'm just publishing this year; I haven't toured for a while actually!'

'I thought that you enjoyed that?'

'I did, I'm not sure really, I guess a while back I questioned whether or not I had the values to be a good teacher.'

'What do you mean?'

'oh…just the college atmosphere, students with crushes, coming to class with hangovers and most of them only there because the had to be.'

'Did any students have crushes on you?'

'…Probably…I don't know!'

'Any of them ever do anything about it?'

'NO…God mom no.  That is illegal.  No.'

'Just because it is illegal doesn't mean it doesn't happen!'

At this point Grissom felt that he had been saved by the bell as the Captain announced that seatbelts were to be fastened for their descent. 

Grissom and Kath busied their way through the Airport out to his car.  Soon they were heading into the city.  

'So are you gonna show me where you spend all of your time or not?'

'Where?'

'The lab Gil, the lab.'

'oh…when do you want to go?'

'What are we doing now?'

'You want to go now?'

'Yes, and didn't I teach you not to answer a question with a question?'

'I want to go see your habitat!'

'Ok' we will go to the lab.'

'I doubt anyone will be there it is 5am on a Sunday morning, This is a busy shift, never know I might be tempted to do some work.'

'I also raised a comedian it seems!'

As they pulled into the lab car park Grissom noticed that as he expected all of the Tahoe's were elsewhere.  At least he could do the tour while avoiding the introductions.  As they made their way through the halls towards his office Grissom saw something in front catch his mothers eye, glancing up Grissom noticed a familiar form heading towards them reading what appeared to be a trace report.

"Sara"

"Griss what are you doing here, oh guess you don't think that I can handle a Saturday night either."

He had to think fast he couldn't hurt her any more nor appear rude in front of his mother

"Not at all…I have someone here I wanted to introduce you to."  Grissom gestured to his mother who was taking in the body language from the exchange and lip reading what she could.  One thing she knew for certain though is that this is definitely the woman in the picture in Gils wallet, and she sure seemed pissed off with him about something although her facial expression eased considerably during their conversation.

"Sara this is my mother Kathleen, She prefers Kath though." As he spoke he spelt out Kath in sign language.  Turning to his mother he signed,

'Mom, this is…Sara.'


	6. meeting sara

An:  Hi everyone.  Well it would seem that your wishes have been granted.  This is a very long chapter for me.  Many thanks have to go to Amy924 for all of he wonderful help and support with this chapter.

Sara initially seemed shocked, but soon recovered enough to hold out her hand to Kath Grissom, however this was moot as the older woman pulled her into a warm embrace.  Kath signed to her,

'It is so nice to finally meet you.'

Gil immediately realized that he would have to translate, although he suspected that this could be an advantage as he could edit some of his mother's statements.  For now though he could translate directly.  Sara did seem to have taken in what he had said previously and watched his mother intently before blushing lightly and speaking directly at her when she replied,

"Thank you, it is an honor to meet you too."

'So tell me is my son a good boss?'  Grissom hesitated a little before he translated this while rolling his eyes in Sara's direction.

"Oh yes…great boss, very bossy." Sara answered grinning wildly flashing a glance at Grissom.  Grissom translated this in the same humor, adding that Sara was trying to be funny.

'That is good, I would hate for him to be a push over,' Sara laughed even before Grissom had finished translating for her.

Kath turned to her son and signed 'You did not tell me Sara was so beautiful, what else are you holding out on me?'  

Sara looked at Grissom inquisitively "oh…uh…she just said that she's hungry, better get her home."

Sara once again grinned at the pair.  "I hope to see you again very soon!"

Kath gave her a curious look before turning to Gil scowling. 'Fine, lets go.'  She turned to Sara and once again gave her a warm hug which was returned this time, before waving as she turned towards the exit.

===============================================================

A short time after they arrived home Grissom poured some syrup onto his pancakes as his mother addressed him,

'How long have you known Sara?'

'…around eight years.'

'So long?  You have not mentioned her much, only the last few years, even then it's like she is just another colleague.'

'She is another colleague!'

'Do have pictures of all of your other colleagues in your wallet?  I only found hers!'

'…What do you want me to say to that?'

'Tell me about her.'

'That picture was taken a few years ago!  I took it at a scene, we were working an ice rink and she laughed when I slipped, I just snapped this while on my ass on the ground!  She is…beautiful!'

'Yes she is!  Is she a girlfriend? Ex?'

'No, just a friend… well we were friends, but that feels like it was a long time ago now!'

'What happened?'

Grissom huffed out a wry laugh, 'I guess…I was me!'

'What do you mean?  Why would she be put off being your friend?'

'It is much easier to sign emotions than speak them!  For me, anyway!'

'I don't think that you need to say much to restore things!'

'I guess not.  I just can't say those things.'

'Why? What are those things?'

'Sara asked me to dinner!'

'Did it go badly?'

'It didn't go at all!  It was the morning of my final pre-surgery consultation.  She caught me off guard!  I turned her down.'

'Why didn't you just go?  Dinner would have been after the appointment.'

'Yeah it would.  In hindsight that is what I would do.  But I didn't…I didn't want to start something before the surgery.  I didn't want her to feel she had to look after me.  I wouldn't want her to think that is why I was with her!'

'Gil honey, she asked you out!  Anyway what did you do about it after the surgery?'

'Nothing!  I guess… I was scared!  It was like she didn't trust me anymore, she just avoided me…I guess I just avoided her too! I guess there are too many reasons why being with Sara is a bad idea!'

'There are?'

'Mom, you may not have noticed in your fervor to find me a wife, but Sara is thirty-three years old and I don't need to tell you how old I am!'

'So what, Graham is three years older than you are and Polly is thirty-one, they have been married for twelve years!' 

'I'm not my cousin, besides Polly's parents haven't spoken to her since she married Graham, I wouldn't do that to Sara.'

'Who says you have to, Micheal and Yvonne Woodhouse have been anal-retentive pricks their whole lives, Sara might actually have normal parents!'

'Mom we could get fired for having a personal relationship, we have both worked too hard to throw that away.'

'Honey you bring in more than a quarter of that labs funding single-handedly, as well as adding prestige as an entomologist.  Nobody is gonna fire you!  If they fire Sara threaten to leave and take your funding with you!'

'Mom every evaluation will be questioned, she will basically be ruled out of every promotion, it wouldn't be fair.'

'Surely someone else has enough experience and seniority to supervise Sara, I don't know use it as an exercise in evaluating supervisory skills!'

'Mom, do you ever give up?'

'Not when I am right honey!  Sara was the one who asked you out.  She had known you for EIGHT years…I think she may have weighed up the options she decided you were worth the risk.  I know that you are worth the risk.'

'I'm just scared of how great it could be!…Yes I know STUPID!'

'I never thought that I would use that term to describe you!.. But yeah, seems pretty apt!'


	7. meeting his mom

An: Ok this is Sara's perspective, it's short I know.  But I didn't know what else to add.  Many thanks go to Amy926  For all of her wonderful help.

Sara could not bring herself to move until after Grissom and his mother had rounded the corner at the end of the corridor.

"That was truly one of the most surreal experiences of my life." She sighed softly.

"Huh?" Greg stuck his head out of the DNA lab, where, until about thirty seconds ago had been playing air guitar while music blasted his eardrums through headphones.

"oh…Uhh…No..nothing." She began to walk away

"Ok" Greg turned back towards his lab,

Sara stopped and turned towards Greg again "Did you just see Grissom here or was it my imagination?"

"Yeah, thought I saw him here.  I guess we solved the mystery of the non-existent social life, Grissom goes for the older laydee!" Greg said as he waggled his eyebrows furiously.

"Don't be so childish Greg, or ridiculous.  She was his mother."

"His mother?  The intrigue grows!"

"Greg…go back to work!"

"Yes mam, boss-for-the-night.  By the way you are sexy when you are thinking!"

"GREG?"

"Um, yeah, that is the look…ok ok back to work."  He cast a comedy wink at her as he disappeared through the lab door.

Sara could not take her mind off the encounter.  

Grissom's mom is alive?  Very alive by appearances, despite a plethora of wrinkles she definitely seemed fit and healthy.

Grissom's mom is warm and friendly?  What was with all of the hugging?  It was nice though, She also seemed to be quite witty – especially at Grissom's expense, oh yeah this was good.

Grissom's mom is deaf?  Well that does explain a lot! No wonder he was so pissed about our attitude to the deaf community.  Well he obviously hasn't realized that I have endeavored to resolve that little issue

Grissom is nervous and relaxed at the same time in his mom's company?  He definitely seemed worried about what she was going to say, I mean all she said was that she thought that I was pretty.  Big deal?  Though I guess pretty much anything could have followed.  He did seem proud of showing her off though, that was pretty sweet.

Grissom is a bad, awful, terrible liar?  How the hell did he ever do well at poker?… oh yeah, that didn't involve speaking!  Oh My God.  How flustered did he get when he tried to lie?  His face turned the color of a beet and he started stammering all over the place!  Though I guess that was better than the image of him spontaneously combusting as he tried to translate what she was saying.  Now that WOULD be an image!

That was just too strange!


	8. back to business

An:  Hi guys thanks for all of the reviews.   And muchos gracias to Amy926 for all her help.  Hope you like it.

"Good evening everyone, before we get to tonight's assignments fill me in on your shifts. Nick?"

"Ok, my shift Catherine and Sara finished up on their running cases, Sara also worked a B and E downtown.  Warrick and I had a shooting in the MGM parking lot.  That was all finished up during Warrick's shift on Friday.  Pretty smooth, Ecklie lording around for a couple of hours fishing for information."

"Thank-you Nicky, Catherine?"

"During mine the boy's worked their shooting.  Sara and I worked a stabbing on the highway, blood everywhere.  All collection finished on the night."

"Stabbing all cleared up?"

"Just finalizing DNA, but we have the guy in custody."

"Good.  Warrick?"

"I had the bogus shift.  Jacqui scheduled off and her replacement didn't show.  Bobby called in sick and there was a maintenance check on the GCMS.  The lab was not really working very well.  Finished the shooting and worked suspect suicide in Henderson with Catherine.  Nicky and Sara had a car wreck but, that worked out to be an accident.  Worn brakes combined with a huge hole in the road."

"Unfortunate circumstances, I'm sorry but you handled it all very well."

"Yeah well not much else to do really."

"Sara?"

"Ok my shift Catherine and Warrick worked their suicide, it's not closed yet as well as helping Nicky with an indecent assault in Washington Park.   I mostly stayed in the lab helping the techs clear some of the backlog.  Greg, Jacqui and Oscar worked three hours overtime each, Bobby is still off I think.  He caught chicken pox off his kid.  I finished up the paper work on all open cases and did some analysis on Nicky's evidence."

"Thank-you Sara. It is interesting that all of you gave yourselves the most interesting cases except Sara who assigned herself the scut work."

"What do you mean?  Because our shifts were smooth and we worked cases you're gonna ride our asses?"  Catherine leaped out of her seat towards Grissom.

"No Catherine.  I simply noted that it was interesting!"

"You insinuated it."

"That is what you assumed I meant, assuming gets you nowhere Catherine.  All I noted was that while the rest of you delegated all work, Sara gave you all cases while she finished up and sorted the lab, she could have asked anyone of you to do the lab work, she didn't!  She wouldn't.  I would have, but then I am supervisor, if I had been in an acting post I would probably have done it myself too.  Nobody welcomes that.  But Sara did what was necessary as a supervisor.  All of the work was done, with as little disruption as possible.  You all did very well.  Thank you!"

"Tonight, Warrick, finish up the suicide after you do a collection at a jewelry store in the Mandarin.  Nicky, Catherine you got a missing persons, O'Reilly will fill you in, it just came in!  Sara we got a body in a dumpster under a bridge!

Ten minutes later Grissom and Sara emerged from the lab to head to their body when they caught a glimpse of Kath Grissom making her way across the parking lot.

'Mom what are you doing here?'

'You forgot this!'  She held out a black pager in Grissom's direction.

'Oh mom you shouldn't have come all this way, I got a new one, that is just an old one that I keep incase I lose the new one.  I'm sorry."

'It is ok Gil.  Gives me a chance to meet Sara again.' With that she turned to Sara with a quick hug.  Kath then turned to Grissom, 'Why don't you invite Sara over for dinner tomorrow?'

'Mom?'

'Goodbye, I love you.'

'Love you too, bye'

"What was that all about?"

"Oh she found my old pager, thought I'd forgot it."

"Oh, we have a body waiting!"

"We do."

With that they made their way to the car and headed towards the dumpster under the bridge.


	9. breakfast?

An:  Next installment.  Starting to get to the juicy bit now.  Hope you like it.  Love reviews.

Jim Brass waved them over as they approached the site.  The area was dusty and dirty and clearly frequented by vagrants although none were present tonight.  Grissom and Sara approached the body of a man who certainly did not appear to be a vagrant.  He appeared clean shaven, well kept and wearing a tux.  Kind of out of place in an area like this.  They methodically went over the entire scene speaking only occasional words but understanding each other totally.  As he finished the area around the body David loaded the body into the coroners van.

"Do you want us to wait for you or can we get started?"

"Go ahead, we have to wait for a truck from the lab to bring back all of this garbage."

"Ok Dr Grissom"

"Just Grissom David"

"Yes Sir…I mean…Grissom."

With that David left and Grissom turned towards Sara as he heard her voice.

"Do you have any sterile sacks in your kit?"

"There are some in the trunk, I'll go get them you load up your kit and bring it over."

"Ok"   

With that they parted for several minutes.

"All done!  You find them?"

"No.  I must have used them all.  I guess we will have to wait for the truck."

"I guess."

"We could get the duty officer to guard the scene and grab some breakfast if you like!"  He suggested while pointing across the street to a small bakery with a seated area to the side.

"…uhhh…I guess, sounds good."

Inside the bakery they both headed to the restrooms.  Grissom emerged first and ordered coffee and menus for both.  Their coffee had just arrived when Sara emerged back into the small seated area.  She slid into the booth opposite Grissom asking,

"Anything nice?"

"Everything looks nice."

"This place certainly smells good at 4am anyway."

An older lady with a sunny disposition despite the hour approached them asking if they were ready to order.

Sara ordered a Bagel with cream cheese and fruit, Grissom Croissant with fruit and yogurt. They discussed theories on the outcome of their case as they waited for their order.  And when it arrived they each dug in with gusto. 

"How long will your mother be in town?"  Sara asked a little unsure as to whether Grissom would be willing to discuss this.

"Oh I'm not sure.  I think she came back with me to find out more about my life, and I don't think she is planning to leave until she has changed it."

"What makes you think she would want to change it?"

"Well there is no wife in it for a start."

Silence

They both exchanged embarrassed smirks.

"I guess she thinks I work too much…She was on her own a lot when I was a kid, I guess it was lonely for her.  She doesn't want me to be the same way I guess."

Taking Grissom's lead in his discussion of his past.  "Your dad wasn't around?"

"He took off when I was five.  Not big loss really, I think he was a criminal."

"Your dad?  Wow."

"Yeah he was into imports and exports with the Far East, which is all I know."

"Could be Ming vases"

Grissom gave an appreciative if wry smile "Somehow I think that is unlikely!"

They each turned their attention once again to their breakfast.


	10. awkward invitation

AN:  Hi everyone thanks for the great reviews.  Many thanks go to Amy for restoring my faith in this chapter.

Back at the lab later that morning Grissom and Sara had just dropped off forty-seven samples to trace and still had six sacks of garbage to sort.

"Let's finish up.  We've already worked two hours of overtime.  Let's come back in the morning with fresh heads and nail the S.O.B. who did this."  Grissom exhaled while rubbing weary eyes.

"I might stick at it a few more hours."

"Sara c'mon, you're tired, too tired to make any sense of this.  Go home, get some rest.  You will need it!"

"I don't need much sleep."

"You do today…  see you at six?"

"Are you coming in early?"

"No my mother is cooking, she…we would be honored if you would join us."

"Oh…ahh….at your place?"

"Yeah" Grissom gave her a quizzical look with a hint of a smile. 

"Um…ok." After a long pause, "Who else is going?"

Grissom became slightly flustered at flustered at this.  Was she expecting the others to be there?   "Oh… Ah…you are the only one that my mom has met so far, she wants to get to know you better."

"Oh, so just the three of us then?"

"Yeah"

"At your place?"

"Yeah"  Grissom seemed almost pathetic.

"Ok, see you there."  Sara turned, heading for the exit with a wide grin cracking her face.  Although she knew it was a fantasy it felt like meeting the parents at the start of a new relationship.  Dinner with the Grissoms.   Wow.  After having breakfast alone with Grissom this morning…it felt like this was going somewhere… she couldn't let him break her heart again… don't hope until you are certain Sara…it was too late, now, hope was all she had.

Grissom on the other hand stood looking like a fourteen year old who had just asked his girlfriend to come over for dinner.  He was blushing furiously while making meaningful eye contact with the linoleum.  All he had to contend with now was what his mother would say over dinner…at least with that he could make some choice alterations.

He entered the front door silently in case his mother was still asleep.  He turned around to close the latch as quietly as possible when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.  He heart leap in his throat and his voice choked on it on it's way out.  "MOM…are you trying to kill me."

'Sorry, thought you would have heard me'  She signed back.  

'Mom, I'm sorry.  You frightened me.'  He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her temple.'

She pulled away signing 'You hungry?'

'No, Sara and I had breakfast a few hours ago, I'm going to get some sleep.'

'Gil?'

'What?'  he asked innocently trying to hide his grin.

'Is Sara coming for dinner?'

'Oh…yeah, she will be here at six… She is vegetarian by the way, she used to eat fish but I'm not sure if she still does.  Is that ok.'

'Of course, go sleep' with that she gave him a light kiss on the forehead and headed for the kitchen and breakfast, while Gil headed down the hall to bed.


	11. dinner

 An:

Gil Grissom stood in his underwear peering into his closet like it held the Dalai Lama.  What was he supposed to wear?  It was supposed to be a casual lunch with his mother, Sara just happened to be coming.  Should he wear work clothes?  He was going to work afterwards.  But… he wanted this to be different.  This was dinner with SARA.  He looked again hoping for some inspiration.  Ok casual non-work, either sweats or denim.  Definitely not sweats so jeans.  As he slid them over his hips and fastened the button he heard is mother's distinct voice calling him.  He loved hearing her call his name, although she rarely spoke she still called his name when she needed him.  He emerged from the bedroom and headed towards the Kitchen

'Where do you keep the napkins?'

'Oh… here.' he lifted some of the top shelf of the pantry.

'Why aren't you dressed yet?  You have been in there for ages.'

'I'm going now!'

He stalked back off to the bedroom determined to find something to wear and be back in the kitchen wearing it within a minute.  He selected a pale grey light wool sweater and blue tennis shoes.  Throwing them on quickly he emerged into the kitchen just in time to hear a knock on the door. 

Oh God she is early.  Oh God.  He went into the kitchen drawing his mother's attention to the fact that Sara was at the door.

He answered the door, to discover Sara wearing navy slacks which held her every curve and a sky blue t-shirt which again appeared to fit very well indeed.  Closing his gaping mouth and clearing his throat he invited her inside,

"Come in, dinner is almost ready!"  He smiled broadly

"I'm a little early, sorry."

"Don't worry…Can I get you a drink?  We have non-alcoholic wine if you want some."

She huffed out a laugh and returned his smile "Isn't that just grape juice?"

"Well…yeah, just don't tell mom."

They proceeded to the kitchen where Kath rushed to greet Sara. 

'My dear you look beautiful!'  This time Grissom translated without fault, and Sara gave an appreciative if nervous smile and gave thanks for the complement.

'I do hope you like Mexican?' Again this was something Grissom felt it not necessary to alter.

"Oh… yeah, I like Mexican.  What have you made?"

'fajitas and capsicum peppers stuffed with mushroom couscous.'

"Sounds great!"  Sara gave an appreciative smile, although at the back of her mind she was panicking in case Grissom forgot that she was a vegetarian. 

Grissom handed her a glass of Grape juice and his mother a glass of what appeared to be real wine.

"She doesn't have to work tonight, so not much point in subjecting her to grape juice."

"Hey, the grape juice is nice.  The table looks beautiful!"

"Yeah it does" Grissom gave it a wistful glance.  "All due to mom."

"Is she here it stay permanently?"

"NO, God no, she is here just for a couple of weeks, she is bored in her retirement so she came up for a visit."

"And to find you a wife, don't forget."

"Ah, yes and to find me a wife.  I'm pretty sure it won't take her long to figure out that I am not marriage material though."

 "Why would you think that?"  As their eyes locked and the atmosphere in the room became charged they both heard the oven door slam loudly.  Grissom spun around,

'Mom let me get that' He slipped on oven gloves and took the heavy dish from his mother and placed it on the table, he continued to remove all of the dishes as the ladies took their seats.

Mrs Grissom sat directly opposite Sara to make lip reading easier.

After they had all been served Mrs Grissom looked to Sara, 'Where did you grow up?'

Grissom dutifully translated for Sara as she explained

"I grew up in Tamales Bay just outside of San Francisco.  Do you know it?"

'Oh yes dear.  I went to college at Stanford, it is one of the most beautiful parts of the coast.'  Grissom was delighted that they had something more in common than him.

'Gil's father and I even took him there on holiday when he was about four years old.  He loved it.'  Sara turned to Grissom,

"I didn't know that you had been to Tamales Bay."

"Neither did I!"  They both shared a grin.

Mrs Grissom again drew their attention and asked Sara 'How did you spend your childhood?'  Grissom again translated as he swallowed a mouthful of food.

"Griss this is silly.  You don't need to translate for me ok."  Sara said, then followed by signing. 'I will just sign for myself.'

Grissom stared at Sara his mouth agape, as Kath Grissom gave a delighted gasp.


	12. sign

An:  
  
'I did not realize that you could sign Sara' Kath Grissom explained as soon as she regained her senses.  
  
'I assume my son did not know either!' Kath glanced over at Grissom the look of bewilderment still marring his features.  
  
"S-S-Sara, when?"  
  
Sara continued to sign even though Grissom had spoken his question. 'Remember the case at the deaf school. You were so understanding, I found it amazing when you were signing. You were so dedicated to that case. I didn't know why. I wanted to be a part of that, it was obviously important to you.'  
  
"You learned to sign?" Again his question was verbalized.  
  
'You were disappointed in me, in all of us. We didn't understand something that was clearly important to you. I didn't like that feeling, so I did something about it.'  
  
'Where?'  
  
'Henderson Community College, on Tuesday mornings. I'm still learning so no big words if you don't mind, Imagine you are talking to a four year old.'  
  
'It would seem that my son's vocabulary has descended to that of a four year old.' Kath and Sara both shared a laugh at Grissom's expense as he still attempted to come to terms with this new revelation.'  
  
They all finished their meals off with little chat, although the beaming smile on Kath's face showed that she was not upset at this. Grissom excused himself to spoon out dessert and Kath took the opportunity to speak with Sara alone, now that she knew she could.  
  
'How did you meet my son?'  
  
'At Harvard. He came up to do a lecture series, first on forensics, then criminalistics, lastly forensic entomology. He inspired me to do this. He talked to me about my aspirations for the future, how I could use my physics training to assist in solving crimes.'  
  
'You met at college.'  
  
'Yeah, he is a great teacher. I don't know why he stopped.'  
  
Kath was again grinning unmistakably 'I think that I do.'  
  
After a short pause Sara couldn't resist throwing a questioning glance at Kath.  
  
'Oh no my dear, I think that is for my son to explain.'  
  
At that moment Grissom returned to the table with their dessert. Kath and Sara continued to chat about Tamales Bay occasionally trying to bring Grissom into the conversation, he on the other hand seemed content to allow the two women in his life to chat together as he looked on.  
  
As it was approaching eight-thirty Sara decided to head home to gather her things for work. After she said her goodbyes to Kath, which included a series of tight hugs, Grissom proceeded to walk Sara to her car as Kath closed the door over to give them what she hoped was some semblance of privacy.  
  
"Thank-you for coming over tonight."  
  
"It's ok; you make it sound like a chore. I had a nice time."  
  
"I'm glad."  
  
"I think your mom might even like me."  
  
"I'm certain that she does, and she has excellent taste."  
  
"I think I just heard a complement in there somewhere."  
  
"You did?" He asked in a humorously faux shocked voice.  
  
"I'll see you in work."  
  
As he headed back inside his thought were swimming. Where did they go from here? Did she think tonight was as perfect as he did? She can sign? This was too much.  
  
'How do you think it went?' Kath Grissom asked with a clearly pleased expression. Grissom took a while to answer as he reeled his thoughts back in.  
  
'Good, yeah it was nice.'  
  
'She is pretty special!'  
  
"Yes.'  
  
'She said that she met you when she was at college!'  
  
'...yeah she was at Harvard.' Grissom still seemed distracted.  
  
'Was she one of the ones with a hangover, or a crush on the teacher?'  
  
Grissom immediately snapped out of his reverie. 'Mother... What are you insinuating?'  
  
'I can see how it would be hard to maintain values as a teacher if Sara is the student.'  
  
'Mom.. you can't say things like that.'  
  
'How long?'  
  
'How long what?'  
  
'Have you loved her?'  
  
'Mom...'  
  
'You are my son, I love you, and I know you better than anyone. My son is in love, and I would guess that he has been for a long time. You have kept a photograph of her for a few years, but this...it probably goes back long before that.'  
  
'Mom things are complex.'  
  
'You love Sara, Sara loves you. You have yet to give me a compelling reason why you can't be with her.'  
  
'Things with Sara aren't what they were. She may have felt something for me once, but now...she is over what she may have felt.'  
  
'GIL, don't be so ridiculous. Were you here tonight? That girl is crazy about YOU. She learned to sign because she didn't want to disappoint you. She didn't come here tonight to have dinner with me. She loves you Gil. Do something before she gives up on you.' 


	13. moth

An:

"Ok guys we have two scenes to process tonight, Warrick, you Catherine and Nick have a double, Sara you are with me.  Don't forget your other cases folks."  The others all filed out of the break room in pursuit of their case

"Where are we going.?"

"Hoover Dam."

"Hoover Dam?"

"Yeah,  body found in one of the turbine rooms."

"Cool."

Grissom grinned at her obvious excitement "Very!"

They talked through the remaining open cases on the journey to the Dam.  Detective O'Reilly stood waiting for them as they emerged out of the SUV in the parking lot.  They looked around at what was a truly awe-inspiring sight.  The bright white concrete of the dam in stark contrast to the Red colors of the desert stone surrounding it.

"Lead the way to our body detective." Grissom proclaimed as they approached the entrance.

Thirty minutes later after journeying through a myriad of corridors and rooms full of tourists the CSI's found themselves being handed helmets and mufflers for their ears.  After they had donned their gear the CSI's, O'Reilly, a senior manager at the dam and a technician entered a small room that looked like an elevator.  Once the heavy automatic doors closed behind them another set opened, the noise was the first thing to hit them.  Despite the mufflers on their ears the sound of the turbine was incomparable to anything else they had heard.  The Dam technician led them across the room to where the body of a man in his early fifties lay outstretched on his back, there was evidence of a CPR attempt.  Around the body there was ac copious amount of vomit, much of it stained deep red, suggesting the presence of blood.

'I'll take peripheral shots of the area, I need you to collect samples of the vomit.'  Grissom signed to Sara.

'Oh lucky me…by the way can you sign a bit slower, I'm still a newbie.'  Sara replied.

They continued to collect all the required evidence, occasionally drawing the other's attention to what they had found.  After two hours they had both packed up their kits and moved towards the exit when a red flash caught Sara's attention.   As she moved towards the source of color in the otherwise stark room, Grissom's gaze followed her.  Setting down his kit and approaching gently Grissom gathered the delicate moth in his hands.  Sara grasped his field kit as they both entered the small room that acted as a buffer zone.  Grissom released the moth once again.

"The Hyalophora Columbia."

"Columbia Silkmoth, it is pretty."  Sara replied to a surprised Grissom.

As he was about to reply the doors opened.  Sara quickly collected the moth in her hands as Grissom picked up the field kits. 

"Excuse me sir, is there anywhere that we can get outside quickly."

"Are you unwell sir?" the manager asked his voice thick with concern

"No no, my colleague found a moth in there" he signaled towards the room from whence they came "We need to release it soon if it is going to survive."

"Oh, certainly sir.  You can take this elevator to the top of the dam; it only holds two people so you will have to go alone."  He led them towards a small service elevator.  They entered the elevator and hit the button to take them to the top.  When they emerged they discovered themselves in the centre of the dam on a walkway overlooking the huge drop to the Colorado river below them.

"Will I let go now?"  Sara asked, her trepidation evident in her voice as she gestured to the moth in her hands.

"Sure."

They both walked towards the wall at the edge of the concave walkway and Sara opened her hands.  They both watched in silence as the moth took of in the direction a new, free life outside of the Dam.

"I take it you read your Christmas present."

Sara gave an embarrassed grin.  "Yeah some of it, I left out the gross bits though."

"I'm glad."

"Did you think that I wouldn't?"

"I wasn't sure if you would like it.  Entomology is not for everyone."

Sara gave him a quiet reply   "It is a part of you.  I like it."

Grissom paused at Sara's confession, purposefully ignoring it. 

"My mom thinks that you are pretty special."

"Dazzle her with my sign language skills did I?"

"Dazzled her with just about everything.  You're beautiful, charming, intelligent, kind, gentle…just about everything on the checklist.

"Checklist?"

"Wife"

"Oh" Sara's face deliberately paled.  After a pause Grissom continued his voice becoming heavier with emotion,

"What do you think she would say if she knew that I turned down dinner with you just because I was terrified that it would be the only dinner we would ever share."

"Why would you think that?"

"That is my track record Sara.  I do something, or say something that makes people never want to go out with me again."

"Doesn't mean that it would happen with me."

"Sara…..honey. Everyday I wake up and try to forget how amazing you are… Every single day… And everyday you show me that you are even more amazing than I thought the day before."

"You don't see me everyday!"  Sara choked out between her tears, trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't have to. I remember something that you did or something that you gave me is exactly what I need... Everyday you make my life a little better. And everyday I have to walk away from the most amazing woman in the world knowing that if I don't I could either make her happy or ruin her life… I can't risk ruining your life. But I can't walk away from you today… this is too much."

Sara glanced at him tearfully as his own eyes pooled with heavy droplets.

"You don't have to walk away."

"What if I ruin it?"

"You won't."  She placed her arms around him in a tender embrace as he clung to her.  She placed gentle kisses to each of his eyelids before lightly touching his lips with hers.

THE END

An: if you want a sequel you will have to bug me.


End file.
